Historical trends have shown gradual decarbonization of our fuel sources over hundreds of years, the ultimate endpoint of which is hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel cell applications offer safe, emissions-free energy and all of the major auto manufacturers have made commitments to the technology. However, despite this technological push, there remain fundamental scientific issues that have delayed widespread adoption of the technology. In this talk, I’ll discuss ongoing work in my group to develop hybrid nanomaterials approaches to safe, energy-dense, and reversible hydrogen storage in metallic Magnesium nanocrystals, with a focus on new work on 2D hybrid materials. This talk will specifically highlight new work which advances these materials toward room-temperature storage and the atomic limit of selective encapsulation.

I report the results of a project aimed to introduce proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel-cell technology into aviation ground support equipment (GSE) and rental construction equipment. The purpose of the project was to design, build, field-test and then commercialize fuel-cell equipment to start the process of displacing diesel fuel use in aviation GSE and in mobile construction equipment, and to reduce GHG emissions. I describe a hydrogen fuel cell mobile lighting tower (H2LT) that combines hydrogen stored as a high pressure gas, PEM fuel cell technology, and advanced lighting into a single unit with uses in aviation and construction. Results from the field tests are discussed. The H2LT system is compared directly to a comparable diesel-fueled light tower with regard to size, performance and emissions.

Lithium ion batteries have come a long way since they were first commercialized. The improvements in performance are based on materials innovation, design and optimization of the manufacturing process. However, with the ever increasing demands from consumer and automotive applications, lithium ion batteries are still lacking in performance. This presentation will provide an overview of the status and challenges of lithium ion batteries and introduce the audience to Qnovo’s unique approach to improving battery performance.

The morphology of supercapacitor electrodes can significantly affect their performance. The dimensions of pores on the nanoscale has been shown to affect the capacitance per area, while the dimensions of pores on the mesoscale can affects mass transport and power density. In this presentation, I will discuss modeling and experimental results on how pore dimensions can give rise to increased capacitance, and how altering of mesoscale pore dimensions by compressing the electrode affects energy and power density. Finally, I will show how hierarchical pore structures improve performance of capacitive desalination devices.

Ultora has developed a proprietary method to grow carbon nanotubes directly from a metal foil, providing a means of producing flexible, monolithic CNT electrodes in a single processing step. The novel growth method results in excellent adhesion and electrical contact between the CNTs and the metal foil. Ultora’s CNT electrodes comprise only materials – CNTs and metal foil – that are stable at high temperatures. When paired with ionic liquid electrolytes, supercapacitorsare made that are operable at very high temperatures – more than twice the typical maximum operating temperature of commercial supercapacitors. Applications of Ultora’s monolithic CNT-on-foil material,where low mass and thermal stability are important include: harsh environments, thermal interface materials, electromagnetic shielding, infrared absorption materials, and catalyst substrates.